What Are Design Tokens Figma?

Design tokens are a fundamental part of the design system in Figma. They serve as the building blocks for consistent and cohesive visual design across a project. In simple terms, design tokens are variables that store values such as colors, typography, spacing, and other design-related properties. By using these tokens, designers can easily define and maintain a consistent visual language throughout their projects.

Why Use Design Tokens?

Design tokens offer several benefits:

• Consistency: With design tokens, you can ensure that all elements in your design have a consistent appearance. By defining token values for colors, typography, and spacing, you can easily update them globally whenever needed.
• Efficiency: Design tokens eliminate the need for manually updating individual styles across multiple components. Instead, you only need to update the token value once to reflect the change everywhere it's used.
• Scalability: As your project grows and evolves, maintaining consistency becomes more challenging. Design tokens make it easier to scale your design system by providing a centralized location for managing all your styles.

Using Design Tokens in Figma

In Figma, you can create design tokens using styles. Styles allow you to define reusable properties such as colors, fonts, and text styles. Let's take a look at how to create and use design tokens in Figma:

Create a Style

To create a style in Figma:

1. Select an element with the desired properties (e.g., a text box with the desired font size and color).
2. In the right sidebar, click on the "Styles" tab.
3. Click on the "Create Style" button.
4. Give your style a name that represents its purpose (e., "Heading 1").
5. Click "Create Style" to save your design token.

Apply a Design Token

To apply a design token to an element:

1. Select the element you want to style.
2. In the right sidebar, navigate to the "Styles" tab.
3. Click on the desired design token (style) to apply it to the selected element.

Updating Design Tokens

If you need to update a design token, simply edit the corresponding style. Figma will automatically update all instances where that design token is used, ensuring consistency throughout your project.

Benefits of Using Design Tokens in Figma

Figma's implementation of design tokens provides several advantages:

• Collaboration: Since Figma is a collaborative tool, multiple team members can easily access and use design tokens, promoting consistency across different projects and designs.
• Version Control: Figma's version control allows you to track changes made to your design tokens over time. This makes it easier to revert back to previous versions if needed or compare different iterations of your styles.
• Leveraging Components: By incorporating design tokens into components, you can create more reusable and scalable UI elements. Changes made to a design token within a component will reflect across all instances where that component is used.

In conclusion, design tokens in Figma provide an efficient and scalable way of maintaining consistency across your design projects. By utilizing design tokens, you can create a cohesive visual language, save time on updating styles, and collaborate effectively with your team. Start leveraging design tokens in Figma and enhance your design workflow today!